Nov. 13, 2009
Contact: Brian McCann
OLEAN, N.Y. -- Three St. Bonaventure players combined to score 56 points and the Bonnies used 61-percent shooting to open up a 22-point first half lead before the Vikings rallied in the second half, losing 72-62 on Friday night in the Reilly Center on the SBU campus.
Jonathan Hall led the Bonnies with 20 points and eight rebounds while Michael Davenport came off the bench to score 19 and Andrew Nicholson added 17 points and seven rebounds. The trio combined to make 24 of their 34 field goal attempts.
Norris Cole led CSU with 13 points while the inside tandem of Jared Cunningham (11 points, 9 rebounds) and Aaron Pogue (11 points, 9 rebounds) each had strong efforts.
"I was disappointed with how our guards played and how we let St. Bonaventure shoot a lot of layups," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "This is a typical first game for a team with a lot of young players. We did some good things at times but couldn't sustain our effort."
"I thought we battled hard in the second half but we had dug ourselves a pretty big hole. We cut the lead down to 12 a couple of times but couldn't come any closer. Those runs take a lot of energy out of you.
"The best thing about this game is that it is over and we can now learn from it. We get to go home for three games and continue the process of learning how to play together as a team," Waters added.
St. Bonaventure made 17 of its 22 field goal attempts in the first half (.773), leading by as many as 22 points. The Vikings fought back in the second half, closing to within 12(56-44, 10:37) on three occasions but CSU could not come closer until the final minute.
After committing 25 turnovers in the exhibition game, CSU took better care of the ball. The Vikings turned the ball over four times early and nine times in the second half before committing just three mishaps in the final 20 minutes for a total of 12 in the game against solid defensive pressure from St. Bonaventure.
The Vikings started slowly on offense, turning the ball over four times and making one of its first three shots in falling behind, 10-2 at the 14:35 mark.
Jumpers by Brown and Cole helped CSU close to within 12-6 (13:22), but the Bonnies were able to continually get the ball inside.
Ahead 14-8, SBU ran off six straight points to push the lead to 20-8 (9:31).
The Vikings kept it close, trailing 23-15 with 7:18 left before the Bonnies ran off 18 of the next 22 points to take a 41-19 advantage (1:15). Three-pointers by Cole and Jeremy Montgomery helped CSU close to within 43-25 at half.
The Vikings return home to host Wilmington College on Monday, Nov. 16 beginning at 11:30 a.m. in the Wolstein Center. The rare matinee start offers a Busninessman's Special where fans can purchase a ticket for $5 for the game and bring their own lunch or get a $10 ticket that includes a lunch at the concession stand.
